I guess I'll go ahead and be the first to review the backpack. I was a little hesitant buying a product straight from China that wasn't reviewed yet. I went ahead and took the plunge and will offer my initial impressions in this review, and update it if there are any problems in the future.The pack shipped pretty quickly and arrived in a little over a week. They required signature confirmation, and when I wasn't home to receive the package, they called me (and emailed me) from China (at 9pm) to make sure I knew to pick up the package otherwise it'll be shipped back in a certain amount of days. I was impressed.
I'm writing this review as someone who's unfamiliar with any other military or hiking style packs. This is the first hardcore pack I've owned and intend to use it for camping and hiking. I was going to choose between this and an ALICE pack, but decided I'd try something different.
My first impression was how much room there was inside. There's a large cavity with a rectangular bottom (and a pocket that looks like it's for a camel back since there's a hole at the top covered by a Velcro strap) and a smaller cavity with an expandable bottom. The extra MOLLE satchel on the back is very large inside. On the satchel there are 3 additional zippered pockets. The whole satchel has the potential to hold a lot of little things and a lot of weight, however I'm not sure the 2 buttons that hold it to the main pack via the MOLLE connector are up to the task of securing the potential load inside the satchel. Of course this is my first dealing with the MOLLE system, but 2 snap buttons (which admittedly are heavy duty) seems a little light for constant bouncing and rough treatment while camping and hiking. Some Velcro reinforcements would be a good addition.
The MOLLE secured pockets on the sides of the pack are also very spacious, with another small pouch inside them for small items. I believe the two buttons are sufficient for securing these pouches to the backpack.
There are a lot of buckles to help secure the pouches to the pack to prevent slinging around and your loads shifting. However I have dealt with buckles on various other things that are much meatier than these. These are pretty standard plastic buckles, so I'm not sure how much force they can actually handle. The zippers are also better duty than normal zippers.
The shoulder straps are pretty standard with a little padding. They rub on the sides of my neck, I think I'm going to have to wrap that portion in some sort of wool. The padded backing on the front of the pack isn't as padded as I'd like. I have a school backpack with some really thick padding that I could wear all day. The waist strap is moderately comfortable, and is actually too big for me. I'm pretty thin and the buckles are adjusted as short as possible and the waist strap has a little too much slack in it to keep the pack secure on my back. I wear ~32-33" waist pants.
The main things that worries me about this pack are the strap connections to the pack and the bottom of the pack itself. I'm not a seamstress or whatever but all the stitching doesn't seem like it's sufficient to load this thing up and not worry about premature wear. I've had school backpacks with the same bottom as this bag and eventually they develop holes. I have a different school backpack that has a somewhat rigid plastic bottom that seems like it would last longer than this one.
All in all I'm happy with this purchase so far, even though I'm being picky. I loaded it up to go on a vacation and managed to get all my clothes, entertainment, and hygiene supplies in it, so it is very spacious. I am going to go get it inspected and reinforced by a professional seamstress though, just to be sure. Like I said, I don't know what's sufficient, but for the price I'd have wanted just a bit more.
Also another note, the pack didn't come with any instructions or paperwork of any kind. It also came with an extra belt thing with buttons on the end of it and a buckle in the middle. I know the best part of MOLLE is the flexibility to transform it into a pack specific to your needs, but some instructions and suggestions on the purpose of some of these straps and holes would be appreciated. I can get creative, but I'd rather use something for it's intended purpose than to rig it.
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